Catamaran sail boat



July 12, 1960 J; A. c; 'BERGE cawmm sm. son

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledNov. 22, 1955 July 12, 1960 M. A. c; BERGE cumSAIL son 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 22, 1955 .J. M. A. c. BERGECATAMARAN SAIL BOAT July 12, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 22, 19552,944,505. CATAMARAN sAn. BoAT 'ja'cques Marie Albert Charles Berge,Chateau dAreyt,

Prechac (flames-Pyrenees), France Filed Nov. 22, 1955, Ser. No. 548,503a,

13 Claims. (Cl. 114-39) This invention concerns a sail boat having twoor more set up considerable torsional stresses in this intermediate vTassembly element. Consequently, the said deck must have considerablestrength, which entails a considerable increase in the weight of thewhole assembly to the detriment of the buoyancy and the speed'of thevessel The bulk and manoeuvrability of the vessel are thereby affected,whereby movement on land is rendered diflicult and sometimesimpossible." 3 a a The present invention concerns a catamar'an'sail-boatcomprising a number of-separate hulls; con

over said hulls, connecting? means betwe'en' the lower 'tnse betweensaidfhullsconsisting-of at. least'ibnefgroupof inclined mast likeelements secured to 'and'fextending ends of the two hulls 1 and 2. Thesaid masts may; of course, tie-formed inone or more separable parts-and'are connected at 5, preferably by a very simple means, such as a keyedmember 19 or other appropriate means permitting of rapidlyseparating'the masts from one another forthe purpose of dismantling thewhole assembly. The said masts may'besecured at their lower ends to thehulls '1 and 2, for example by means of orifices formed inthe saidhulls, in which they are spigotted or keyed, or by any other means. 7"The hulls are'connected together by an element 4 forming a cross-deckand consisting, for example, offixed tubes 15, 16 disposed transversely,integral with the bulls. The said tubes then support the panel 4 formingthe deck. These various 'elements'may be very light by reason of thefact that this assembly has only towithstand transverse torsionaliforces which result in. tension or compressive forces on the tubes.

The masts 3, 3-, 3' ;3"' .afiord interesting possibilities forthe:rigging of the boat; .Asail v7 is connected at its upper end. 8 tothe junction point 5 of the said masts by means of a pulley arrangement17. *Its lower part is connected to a slide 9 of a normal typeby meansof a lpulley arrangement 18, said slide is adapted to travel on:aguideway .10 consisting, forexamplegof appropriate ironsorledges. .Q fv 'Thesaidiguideway ltl is.disposed transversely in a plane asubstantially perpendicular to the longitudinal-'axisiof" the vboat. Thetravel 10f theslide enables the lower' -part of i thetsaillto. swingfrom one edge-of the vessel to t-thelother. The said-guideway iscurvdrand has its ;concavity I having-as its-centre-the apex of the.pyramid-formediby 'end OfZCHCh mast and the respective' hull', further'corinecting means for connecting together the' ifreeppposite ends of atleast some of said 'masts providing 'thereby a rigid connection betweensaid hulls, deck means secured. to said'hulls anddischarged-by said;masts of any-torsion, stresses and further at least one 'saillpertaining to :a group of said mast like elements "and secure1 '-tosaid mast like elements.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, 7

the lower part of the said masts is preferably seeured to .the forwardand stern ends of the aforesaid hulls.

It will thus be appreciated that the longitudinal torsional forcesexerted on the catamaran result in comprehensive or tensile forcesexerted on each mast and received and transmitted by the point at whichthese masts are connected together. e l With .this arrangement it ispossibleto distribute very large forces by means of an assembly of mastelements oflowweight The torsional forces being thus distributed,;:thcintermediate.:element, for example the deck connecting the two hulls.are only subjected to tensile or compressive forces. I p

The saidiarrangement may be designed in a very simple manner so as topermit rapid dismantling and re-assembly and consequently separation ofthe two hulls to enable them to betseparately transported on land. v I

In -the accompanying drawing, which is given solely I byf'wayof.example; Fig. l'is 'a diagrammaticview in with a device of'the aforesaidtype device. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view in perspective of a boatequipped with a device of the aforesaid type but comprising two commonpoints.

According to the form of embodiment shown on'Fig. 1 comprising onecommon point, the said boat consists of two hulls 1 and 2 connected inaccordance with the invention by an assembly of four masts 3, 3, 3", 3".connected at a common point 5 at their ends and secured to their lowerends at 6, 6', 6", 6" at forward and stem perspectiveof' a boat havingtwo hills and equipped uppermost;;for examplein: the form of anfarc of acircle ends'with-abutments '11, 11' .limit'ing-"the travel of-the slide.

Iwinds from escaping" upwardly and thereby increasing the effect of thesail. I

Moreover, it will be appreciated that in the position illustrated inthefigure' the eifect of the wind on the sail imparts; anupwardlytdirected thrust to the hull-2 which tends toiplunget Thisresults in a lifting effect which can naturally be'verysimply regulatedby means ofadjpstableabutments 12, 12' maintaining the slide at adesired point of .the' guideway. Said'adjustable abutmentsmaybemaintained ata chosen point of the guideway by means of anyknown-type for instance screws 20, 20'. A planing action of the'vesselcan thus be more readily produced than with an existing type of sailingboat;

There is shown -at 13 a rope gear secured at one end tothe deck 4 and;permitting of manoeuvring the sail vbymeans of thereversing pulley 14.

The device hereinbefore described is also applicable to boats havingtwoor more hulls of large dimensions. Itmay. comprise a pluralityhofpyramids of four or more masts each of said pyramids being disposed inasucceeding relation longitudinally of-the vessel, the bases of saidpyramids overlapping eachother in order to increase the rigidity of thehull. These pyramids 'may supportone or more sails lconnectedto theapexthereof.

. The hulls may naturally consist of any appropriate material, such aswood, metal, synthetic plastic materials are connected at 5a at theirupper ends and maintained by means of a keyed member 19a, they aresecured to their lower ends at 6a, 6'a, 6"a, 6"a. A sail 7a is connectedmists 2,944,505 c A a at its-upper end 8a to the junction point 5a bymeans of a pulley arrangement 17a. ,'The, lower part of said sail isconnected to a slide 9a by means of a pulley arrangement 18a, said slideis adapted to travel on a guideway '10a, provided with fixed abutments11a, lla and adjustable aoutrnents 12a, 12'a provided with, screws 20aand Ztt'a. The sail 7a is manoeuvred by means ofa rope 13a and areversing pulley 14a.

Similar elements to those described in connection with the mast group aare to be found in mast group b. Said elements are indicated bycorresponding reference numerals. The masts pertaining to groups a and bconstitute two pyramid shape configurations having overlapping bases.

Naturally, the invention is in no way limited to the embodimentillustrated and described, which has only been referred to by way ofexample.

What I claim is:

1. A catamaran s'ail boat comprising a number of sep- 'arate hulls,connecting means between said hullsconsisting of at least one group ofinclinedmast like elements secured to and extending over said hulls,connecting means between the lower end of each mast and the respectivehull, further connecting means for connecting one sail pertainingto-agroup of said-mast like'elements 30 and secured to said mast likeelements.

2. A catamaran sail boat comprising arnumber of S6P- arat'e hulls,connecting means between said hulls consisting of at least one groupoffinclined mast like elements securedto and extending over said hulls,allot said masts pertainingto one group .formingthe edges of a'substantially pyramid shapedconfiguration, connecting means between thelower end of each mast and the respective hull, further connectingmeansior connecting together .the'free opposite ends of at 'least someof said -masts pro- ;viding, thereby a rigid "connection between saidhulls, deck meanssecured to said hulls and discharged by said masts ofany torsion stresses and further at least one sail pertaining toa groupofsaidmast like elements and secured to said mast like elements.

3. A catamaran sail boat comprising a number of separate hulls,connecting means between said hulls consisting of .at least one group ofinclined mas't like elements secured toand extending over said hulls,all of said masts pertaining to one group forming the edges of asubstantially pyramid shaped configuration and converging in asubstantially common direction, connecting means between the lower endof each' inast and the respective hull, further connecting means forconnecting together the free opposite ends of at least some of saidmasts providing thereby a rigid connection between said hnlls, deckmeans secured to said hulls and discharged by said-masts of anytorsion'stresses and further at least one sail pertaining to a group ofsaid mast like elements and secured to said mast like elements.

4. A catamaran sail boat comprising a number of separate hulls,connecting means between said hulls consisting'of at least one group ofinclined mast like elements secured to and extending over said hulls,all of said masts pertaining to one group forming the edges of asubstantially pyramid shaped configuration and converging in asubstantially common direction, connecting means between the lower endof each mast and the respective hull, further connecting means forconnecting masts providing thereby a rigid connection between saidhulls, and deck means secured to said hulls and discharged by said mastsof any torsion stresses and further at least one sail pertaining to agroup of said mast like elements and secured to said mast like elements,either hull having at least two symmetrically located converging mastslying in a common plane which is inclined in the direction of theadjacent hull.

5. A catamaran sail boat comprising a number of separate hulls,connecting means between said hulls consisting of at least one group ofinclined mast like elements secured to and extending oversaid hulls, allof said masts pertaining to one group forming the edges of asubstantially pyramid shaped configuration, con necting means betweenthe lower end of each mast and the respective hull, further connectingmeans for conecting together the free opposite ends of at least some ofsaid masts providing thereby a rigid connection between said hulls, anddeck means secured to said hulls and discharged by said masts of anytorsion stresses and further atleastone sail pertaining to a group ofmasts and secured to said masts at their common connecting .point andadjustable control means at the lower end of said sail registering withsaid deck.

6,. A catamaran sail boat according to claim 5 wherein said adjustablecontrol means consists of a slide secured to the lower end of saidsailand a guideway extending across said deck for supporting and guidingsaid slide.

7. A catamaran sail boat according to claim 6fwherein said guideway iscurved according to an arc of .a circle having its center locatedsubstantially at the upper connecting point of said masts.

8. A ca'tamarani sail boat according to claim lwherein' said furtherconnecting means'consists of a keyed member easily detachable.

, 9. A catamaran sail boataccording to claim "5 comprising apulleyfarrangement secured to the said common point for supporting saidsail.

.10. A catamaran sail boat according to claim 7 comprising a pluralityof said guideways fixed with said hulls and disposed in a directionsubstantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vessel,comprising moreovera plurality of said slides adapted to run on saidguide elements, each one of said slides being con.- nected to the lowerpart of each one of said sails.

11. A catamaran sail boat according to claim 3 wherein the said mastsform successive groups each containing at least four masts, all of saidgroups extending along the said hulls.

12. A catamaran sail boat according to claim 11 wherein said vfurtherconnecting means connects together the free ends of the masts of eachgroup of masts, the masts of each group forming a substantially pyramidshaped configuration.

l3. A'catamaransail boat according to claim 12 wherein at least certainof said pyramid shaped configuration have overlapping-bases.

References Cited in the file of'this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSTchetchet Feb. 12, 1952

